Love lost, friend found
by providence2010
Summary: The Titans have uncovered a sinister experiment. But who is behind this organization the experimentee keeps talking about. Does it even exist? RxSF PG13 for violence and somewhat disturbing references.
1. The Experiment

Although I pwn at the Teen Titans (laughs a sad sarcastic laugh) I do not own them.

Please R&R, do no flame, because this is my first fic, and I would like some inspiration from you guys.

It was cold, damp, and everything Raven thought it would be. The night air was unusually still, and gave all the Titans the feeling that this was going to be another boring and miserable watch. But, of course, they were wrong. Robin, being the least trusting, was falling around perfectly normal bystanders, as if there were any at this time of night.

"You fool," said an all too familiar voice.

Robin spotted a young woman at the side door of a warehouse talking to the silhouette of a tall, well built man. A man who was about the same stature as...

"But Mr. Ricks, I did everything you told me to."

"I told you to wait. You don't wait, you don't fulfill the deal!"

Robin was getting paranoid, of course it wasn't Slade. Still this was something he just had to check out.

"Let me," Raven whispered as she appeared somewhat ahead of him, and entered the shadow of the alley.

Raven desperately wanted something to do. Her mind had been wandering before the disturbance, but she didn't want to meditate, just in case she missed something important.

"Can I just see him once?" asked the woman.

"No, I told you already. You can't see him ever until you make up your debt," the man said.

"But it's been 8 years. How can I know you haven't moved him somewhere else, or that I'll ever see him again."

"You should have that about that before you got sick and had to pay us all that money."

The young woman began to cry. Her heavy cloak drifting further over her face.

"So you're going to cry about it, and do nothing."

"No," the woman said. She looked up suddenly enough to knock the hood of the cloak off the back of her head. She seemed prematurely aged, but Raven could tell by her aura that she was only 22.

"Good, because you've only got two more screw ups. Go to Robert Fohlstead. He has a special item I need. Tell him I'm paying him with this," the man handed her a small cooler, "and he should understand. Your boyfriend gets to have this piece, if that's any encouragement not to screw up this time."

The woman walked away as Raven and Robin disappeared further into the shadows. The man closed the door quietly behind him as he returned to the warehouse. Robin, wanting to know more about what was probably an illegal operation, began to formulate a plan.

"Starfire, Cyborg, I need you to follow the woman in the heavy brown cloak," he said into his communicator. "Raven, you and I are going to investigate Mr. Ricks little operation."

Raven nodded her head in understanding, and flew up to the top of the building. Robin followed, and both began to watch Ricks through the window. He was standing in front of a tall cylinder that had a strange sheen, typing at a small data-pad that was connected to the metal base of the cylinder. After typing for a few minutes, Ricks spoke, and the strange sheen was replaced by a strange liquid clarity and a boy about the Titans' age. He was mostly stripped, except for his underwear. He was thin, but not weak. He had extremely stringy muscles that popped out at certain points, was very tall (probably as tall as Cyborg), and very dirty. However, what grabbed Raven and Robin's attention most were his arms. The inner portions of his lower arms were lined with some sort of machinery that was unevenly grafted to his skin.

Raven tested the boys aura and found that he was in suspended animation. However, Ricks began toying with the data-pad again, and the boy soon woke up. He wasn't totally awake, as Raven noted, but enough for the diodes on the back of his head to be able to send signals to something that could react to them. The boy, drowsy with his prolonged sleep, began to stir, and after catching a glimpse of Ricks, began to flail angrily around. His expression was horrifying. Raven had never seen so much anger in one person before. In fact, Raven was almost overwhelmed by it. Allowing herself to fall out of her deep concentration on the boy, Raven began to notice that Robin was preparing to break in and stop Ricks' experiments.

"Wait," Raven warned, "this may go deeper than we think."

"Good point, I'll set up a camera here so we don't have to stick around all night. We should catch up to Star-fire and the others."

Robin quickly deployed the camera, and he and Raven quietly left.

Star-fire glided quietly behind the young woman. Cyborg, following further behind in his car in silent mode. The woman reached a small apartment building, and began climbing the fire escape ladder.

"You don't need to do that, Sarah" said a man as he emerged from the shadows along the side of the apartment.

"Mr. Fohlstead," she cried with joy.

Star-fire watched as the old man gave her a comforting look.

"I wondered when he'd send you back again. Is that the package?" he said pointing at the cooler.

She nodded.

"Come inside and have some tea. You've had a rough night."

"No I'm fine, I'll just go home after this."

"I thought your landlord kicked you out."

"He did, but I'm staying with some friends."

"Did he let you see Grey?" The doctor intent on keeping the girl company for as long as he could.

"I told you not to say his name," she said in a distressed tone, "No, he said I still had to wait, but I don't know if I can wait two more years."

"You can, and you have to. I know your whole life has been tough. But think about it, you're working with some pretty powerful people. You may be able to get a job with the experiments he will be doing, and then you'll be payed a lot more money than any other job you could probably find. You two have something I've never seen before, something no one can take away no matter what your situation. Most couples can stand to live with each other, but not lose something for each other. Others can go as far as dying for one another, but can't stand a normal day together. You two can do both without any hesitation."

Star-fire reflected on these words. For some reason they seemed to give her a warm feeling, and make her think of Robin.

"Thank you Mr. Fohlstead, but I do need to go home, and you need to get to work on the experiments."

"Very true, thank you Sarah, and please, I know Mr. Ricks is a tough bargainer, but he's just doing what he's told. He has people to answer to also, and he can't be held accountable for something he didn't do."

Sarah walked off with somewhat renewed confidence. As she looked into the night sky, she saw a strange car coming towards her, with it's lights off. "No," she thought, "it can't be them, I didn't do anything I shouldn't have. They can't kill me for being early." She ran off into one of the many adjoining alleys, hoping the car would miss her, or that they'd just give up.

Cyborg stepped out of the car, and signaled Star-fire to fly to the other side of the alley. Cyborg followed the girl into the alley at a jog, hoping only to scare her into bumping into Star-fire, since he hadn't been able to listen to the conversation. Star-fire waited on the other side, and when she was sure of her timing, stepped out in front of the girl.

"Don't be afraid, we only want to help you," Star-fire pleaded.

"Wha- the Teen Titans?" the girl stuttered in surprise.

"Why do you owe that Ricks man a debt, and what has he done to your friend?" Starfire questioned.

"No, I can't tell you, they'll kill him, they'll kill me, and they'll kill you." she began shrieking hysterically.

"I don't think anyone will be killing us anytime soon," Cyborg butted in.

"Can't you just leave me alone. If they see me talking to anyone, they'll kill him, and I'll have worked so long for nothing."

"Who is this 'him,'" Starfire asked.

"My boyfriend, Grey. I had a disease when I was in high-school. The doctors had no idea what it was. They kept trying different treatments, and nothing happened. Grey, kept trying to find different doctors who had dealt with the disease before. None of them new anything. Then he found Mr. Fohlstead. He had connections to a research department who'd found an extremely expensive way to cure the disease. Grey started working for the researchers. But they were working with really dangerous and illegal stuff. So he had to agree to work for them for 10 years. Eventually I was cured, but Grey kept having to work. One day, there was an accident, and he was infected with the disease.They told me because of his agreement, they had to do tests on Grey, and that, he had to pay for the tests, and eventually the cure. In order to pay for the treatment, I had to work for the researchers also. I can't believe I just told you all of that. Please, just forget anything I just said. You can't help me, you'd just hurt me and Grey if you tried."

"I'm sorry but-" Starfire began, but Cyborg interrupted.

"Star, we need to think about this. Please, let us walk you home."

"No thanks," the girl said as she began to recollect herself, "I'll be fine."

She walked off down the alley and disappeared into the street.


	2. Past Pains

Although I pwn at the Teen Titans (laughs a sad sarcastic laugh), I do not own them.

Question am I not putting enough Beast Boy in? I'll try to have more of him in later. I just have a hard time connecting with his character.

The Titans mulled over the facts in their tower.

"I don't think their is a group behind this," Robin said, "Ricks' resources were too meager, and he seems to depend on this Fohlstead guy too much. I mean, seriously, he didn't even have a phone."

"Seeing that Fohlstead is under house arrest for illegal research and that Sarah really was going through tons of treatment for some unknown disease, I'd have to say that most of the story is credible. But I couldn't find any likely suspects on that Ricks guy. Something tells me that's not his real name."

"Well, let us go then!" Starfire bursted.

"No, we still don't have strong enough evidence against this not being connected to something bigger."

"We still haven't found enough evidence against there being a larger organization," raven croaked. She'd been a little off ever since she'd seen that boy, so she'd had a little trouble concealing the fact that she really felt for Rachel and Grey.

"Well, let's look at the video we got from the camera," Robin said, giving Raven a strange look, like everyone else.

Robin typed at the computer terminal he was sitting near for a few seconds, and soon a video appeared on the big TV screen that they normally played games at. It started with Grey attacking the tube he was trapped in for a few minutes. Ricks was typing at the data-pad some, entering in various commands. Finally, Ricks pressed enter, and Grey began to act drowsy. Ricks drained the tube and opened it, allowing Grey to step out and peer around for a few moments. Ricks pointed at a large oil drum in the corner. Grey pointed lifted a hand and faced a palm, which had a strange silver disc in the center of it, at the drum. Suddenly, the drum collapsed in on itself and began to violently shake. After hovering in the air for a few seconds, shaking and collapsing, it fell to the ground, a perfect sphere. The Titans watched in awe as Ricks tested Grey's power. Ricks attention seemed to suddenly shift from Grey's destructive powers to his head. He cursed, set down a pad of paper he'd been taking notes on, and typed something into the data-pad. Grey began to return to the tube, but fell to the ground and began shaking as blood began to flow from his ears and nose.

"He's trying to resist..," Raven began, wide eyed, but fainted.

"Raven!" Starfire started.

Raven awoke to find herself on the couch, no one dared drop her off in her room. She looked around to see most of the items in the room torn up or toppled, probably her psychic power going psycho while she was unable to control her emotions.

"Good afternoon," Cyborg said jokingly, "I'm guessing you didn't sleep to well."

"Not really..." Raven replied, "what did you guys find out?"

"It seems as though there really isn't any organization behind this. No one visited Ricks, no one called him, and he puts his notes in a filing cabinet, that's still filled with notes." Robin seemed somewhat disappointed.

"It just seems too convenient though," Raven tried to convince the others.

"Well we can't just sit here and do nothing," Starfire cried.

"I say me and Cyborg break Grey out and Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven make sure Sarah is safe, just in case something happens," Robin said determinedly.

It was a pretty dreary day, yet again. Robin and Cyborg were camped out on top of Ricks' warehouse waiting for Ricks to leave. As soon as he left, they crept in through the roof windows. Robin searched the area for security countermeasures , the area was clear. The warehouse was a lot smaller than he had thought. It was lit with a few stadium lights, and besides the tube, two computers, filing cabinets, and crushed barrels, it was completely empty.

"You find anything yet Robin?" Cyborg asked.

"Nothing, go ahead and let Grey out."

Cyborg deftly sifted through all the computers systems until he found a way to let Grey out without applying the control drug Ricks had used.He found the right settings, applied them, and opened the container. Grey walked out drunkenly.

"Who are you guys," he asked.

"You've got a lot of catching up to do," Robin said, as Cyborg stared in disbelief.

"Why did you let me out, where's Ricks, and where's Sarah?"

"We've got Rachel taken care of, Ricks, is hopefully nowhere near here, and we let you out because we didn't think it was right to let people do this to you," Cyborg replied.

"You've gotta bring me to Sarah, we have to protect her!" Grey yelled.

"Hold on, we had some of our guys bring Rachel to a secure place," Robin countered.

"You don't get it, this guy is smart, there is no secure place in reference to him!" he was practically screaming now.

"Trust us, there is no other guy, Ricks is the only person in this operation."

"This is why I hate people in general," Grey growled. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to fix this whole situation." Grey looked up at the ceiling and, with a loud boom, ripped a hole in it. Soon he was levitating out of the building, and into the city.

Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy, mostly Beast Boy, had convinced Sarah to hang out with them at Titan Tower, and were on their way to the Tower. Sarah had dropped off Ricks' package earlier, so even if there was a misunderstanding she would be fine.

"So, there was this giraffe, and a kangaroo..." Beast Boy was telling another sad excuse for a joke, that Sarah was already laughing at because of how ridiculous it was.

"Has he found out that he's not funny yet?" she asked, giggling, Raven when Beast Boy wasn't paying attention.

"Sadly, no," Raven sighed.

Off in the distance, Grey flew over the city, hoping he could find Sarah before someone else did.


	3. Anger Unbounded

Although I pwn at the Teen Titans (laughs a sad sarcastic laugh) I do not own them.

OMG guys it's a cliffhanger. If you've read this far and think it's too angsty, read no further. It's kinda ridiculous in some ways after this. (I just needed to get this story idea out of my head.)

"I can't get them on the communicator," said Robin as he and Cyborg raced across the city. They could still trace Grey's path through the skies where he'd torn apart buildings and warped the sky. His powers were beginning to grow out of control in his rage. Cyborg was even beginning to detect blood in the atmosphere, as if Grey was ripping himself apart just to reach Sarah on time, his amazing speed spreading the blood through the air.

"I just hope the others are okay," Cyborg said, "Grey just seems to convinced that their's someone else out there."

"I know," Robin said, concern and doubt filling his ever thought.

"Ohhh!!!" Sarah said as she felt through her pockets.

"What is it?" Raven asked as the girl fumbled with a strange looking object.

"It's my cell phone, Grey made it for me," she said, proudly displaying what was obviously a mixture of other cell phones that had been parted together. Raven now fully understood Sarah and Grey's predicament. They were poor, intelligent, but unconnected people. They were probably very surprised when they learned they actually had a valuable connection.

Sarah had told Raven, Starfire, and Beast Boy her story. Beast was told to keep an eye on the area, and was unable to hear most of the story, and Starfire, in her naivete, was unable to comprehend why the two lovers had been put through so much hardship. Rachel's father was a business tycoon, but had been caught up in dirty dealings that were being carried out by lower-level employee's. When the scam was found out, her father was sent to prison. Unable to stand the thought of having to look at his wife and child, and knowing how much being around them would hurt them, because of the business world's sudden loathing of his family, he committed suicide. Sarah's mother was only able to live off of the money alloted to her through her husband's will. Rachel was actually a very bright student, but was unable to participate in many school activities because she had to work so often to help her mom out with finances. She met Grey when he ordered fast food from her employer (she still remembered exactly what he ordered). Grey, who seemed confused at the time, tried to give her a tip that was too large. When she explained this to him, he simply told her to keep it, because she probably deserved it. When she walked away, several boys came up and began making fun of Grey's car. Sarah was astounded to see Grey laughing with them. The other boys, not knowing how to respond, called him a freak, and left. Sarah asked him how he could simply sit there and let them say that He simply answered "Because in some senses, they're right." They ended going on a date, in which Grey explained his past. His parents were middle class business workers, but had many medical conditions that cost them dearly. Grey had problems of his own. He had been forced to go to a different school district when he began acting violently and anti-socially. The school district, having already dealt with a serious attack on it by one of its students, was unwilling to take any chances. As it turned out, a medication Grey had been taking for allergies, had caused severe mental instability. He'd had to go into rehabilitation because of the chemical byproducts the drug had caused him to produce. They'd been dating for about two years when Sarah caught her disease. The rest, the Titans already knew.

"I do not understand this 'mental illness' that you described," Starfire had begun after Sarah told the story.

"It-" Raven began, but was cut off by Sarah.

"It's when you don't have as much control of yourself as you normally would, because you start thinking differently, and sometimes you start thinking things that are wrong are right, and other times, you just can't see any of the world around you. It means you're a different person than you should be." Sarah looked at her feet, looking as though she were tired.

"Can we go to a park?" Sarah asked. "I'm really tired, and I need some fresh air."

"Sure," Beast Boy said, "I know a great- Sarah? Sarah!!!"

They all watched as Sarah fell to the ground, a blood stain forming on the back of her shirt.

"Fried Sarah, what has happened? What needs to be done to fix you? Are you sick again?" Starfire threw these questions at the dead girl, not realizing that nothing could fix her anymore.

"You should have listened to Grey you know," yelled a hysterical Ricks from the top of a building. His sniper rifle gleaming in the sun that was just beginning to pick its way through the clouds. "Don't worry about her," said that man, "she's already dead. You on the other hand, have to deal with her boyfriend!" He began laughing, his laugh impossibly hollow.

Starfire, now in tears at her sudden realization of Sarah's death, looked up at Ricks with sudden anger. "You shall pay for what you've done!" she yelled, charging up through the air to strike him.

"I'm sorry, but I have the feeling you wont have the honor," was Ricks's cryptic reply as he suddenly imploded, only to explode a second later. His metal parts raining down on the street below.

"**RACHEL!!!"**

Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy fell to the ground as the noise permeated the surrounding city blocks. The surrounding crowd joining them. The ringing in their ears subsided just in time for them to hear a young boy crying, holding Rachel, stroking her cold white face. He looked at them, face covered in a strange metallic mask with bulging glass green eyes, and four small slits where his mouth would be. Grey was no longer in his test-tube attire. He had a large black cloak, that hooded his face, and was wearing baggy black clothing underneath it. Raven felt his anger, permeating her and her friends. She could feel her friends cringing in fear at this new feeling. Raven, being adept at feeling others emotions, was getting a full blast, and it wasn't pleasant.

"Look, we didn't kill her, it was the Ricks guy," Beast Boy pleaded, transforming into a bear as Grey stepped towards him.

"You never listen, do you," Grey began, hysteria filling his every word. "No one ever does. You'll just have to learn... the painful way." He bent his head forward, and took another step towards Beast Boy.

"I'm warning you, take another step, and I'll take you down." Beast Boy said, trying to fake at least some courage.

Grey took another step, and Beast Boy charged, and slashed. Grey simply stood there, and let the blow strike what appeared to be nothing. Beast Boy continually struck at Grey, who began laughing a merciless laugh. After countless strikes, Beast Boy backed off. Realizing, he needed his friends for this one. However, his friends were still recovering. As he looked back to ask for their help, Grey swept in and blasted Beast Boy. Before anyone saw what happened, Beast Boy was half way through a wall, with blood running down his arm.

Grey turned his glance at Starfire, who had just gotten to her feet.

"You do not need to hurt us. I offer you this one last warn- yelp" She cried as Grey took a hold of her throat. Energy blast after energy blast pounded from around the two, until you couldn't see either. However, her attacks were useless. The shield Grey was able to create around himself was simply too strong.

"You're_ that_ boy's girl aren't you?" He smiled, which was strangely obvious beyond his mask. "Well, we'll simply have to make him pay. He's the one who set me free anyway."

A black shadow covered Grey's mask, pulled it off, and rammed it into his stomach.

"We're a team, and anything any one of us does, we're all responsible for." Raven reasoned. She had no other words for the boy, because she didn't believe he could be comforted.

He loosed his grip on Starfire, who he'd been subconsciously strangling, and she fell to the ground.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize you wanted to play too." He said as he flew at Raven.

She threw up a wall of earth in front of her. Which Grey impacted heavily. The next moment, earth clods flew everywhere as the mount exploded, and Grey and Raven's powers began to collide. As the battle dragged on, Raven began to search for things to throw at him. She finally pulled up a piece of dirt near Sarah's body, hoping it wouldn't pull her with it, but it did. Grey saw, and was outraged.

"DON'T YOU DARE!!!"

Raven awoke to find herself bruised and battered and lying in a small crater she'd managed to create to cushion herself before her fall. She stepped out of the crater to find Robin questioning Beast Boy. Starfire was nowhere to be found.


	4. Lost in Pain

I don't own the Teen Titans

Okay, here's the next chapter. This concludes the main storyline. But that just means I have to write a concluding chapter, or possibly a chapter that expands some more of the story. Sorry for those of you who were looking for that RavenxOC action. I'm kinda busy right now, so I'm just gonna slap that in the sequels, which will only appear if you write reviews to commend my work, and show me that at least _someone_ reads this stuff.

"Do you not understand that we can help you?" Starfire continued to plead, trying to find any way to turn the boy from his path. "You do not need to do this. I know you have suffered a terrible fate, but it was not the fault of my friends. That Ricks man was the one that killed Sarah, and you have had your revenge."

"Are you that stupid?" he asked in a hurt tone. "He wasn't a man. He was a robot, a puppet, put in place to fool Sarah, and people like you.You just couldn't believe me." He continued in silence no matter how much Starfire persisted.

Robin and the others had begun to head back to Titan's tower, hoping they could better track Starfire from their sensors there.Their communicators, unable to detect Starfire's because of some sort of radio interference, had been put away. When they reached the tower, they saw Starfire lying in front of it, obviously unconscious.

"Now you can understand what it feels like to lose the only thing you live for," Grey began, looking at Robin.

"Dude, it's not like Robin and Starfire are even going out. What kind of sick world do you live in that makes it worth anything to kill her?" Beast Boy asked, trying to reason with the ever more unstable Grey.

"You fools don't see it, and you live around each other. I saw it after the first day. I heard your heart rate jump and your steps become heavier when you referred to her. I watched as you looked for her, and felt your rage. You couldn't hide it if you were asleep." He began to raise his hands to deal the final blow to the girl. The Titans charged, Robin taking the lead. Grey simply leveled them with is hand. There was nothing they could do, they were completely at his mercy.

"Just tell me what you want," Robin pleaded, "I'll do anything, just don't kill her."

"The only thing you can give me, is your pain," came Grey's cold reply.

Something about the scene and the dialogue had struck a chord in Grey. He had almost faltered in his last sentence, and Raven was beginning to pick up faint traces of a memory playing over and over again in Grey's head. She began to see how she could use this to her advantage. She quickly morphed the dirt and rocks in what she saw in Grey's memory.

"Wha- What's happening," Grey said as he saw the scene materialize around him.

Beast Boy took his chance, transformed into a mole, and dug his way over to Starfire, making a tunnel large enough to drag her through while Grey was distracted. Grey, however, had become far more than distracted. The memories he was beginning to have were too much for him. He began to tear at everything with his powers.

"Get out of here," Raven said to Robin, "I'll keep him busy while you and Cyborg get Starfire."

Grey ripped at the scene, the tower, the ground, at Raven, and through the air. The destruction multiplying with each swipe.

"Nooooo," he'd begun to scream.

Raven saw that there was nothing she could do to stem his rage, so she braced Titan's tower with her powers, preparing for the worst.

With one last primal scream, Grey's powers exploded across the Titan's tiny island, consuming everything. Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy watched, hoping that the Tower would survive. Starfire had begun to stir, and awoke to the sight of a crying Robin. Something in Robin had snapped. Something about Grey's words, and his plight, had left Robin unsettled, and he finally knew why. He loved Starfire, and he couldn't stand the thought of anything like what had happened to Grey and Sarah.

"Why are you crying Robin," Starfire asked dazedly.

"I'm just happy that you're still alive," Robin said as he hugged Starfire.

Raven and Beast Boy returned to the tower, hoping to be able to salvage something. However, nothing would need to be salvaged. It seemed as though the explosion had done no damage. All that was left was a twenty foot wide crater, with Grey curled up inside it. He was convulsing, and was a sickening shade of white. A strange hum filled the entire area, as the Jump city police hauled the boy off to prison.


	5. Moving On

Yet again, I don't own the Titans. This is the second to last chapter. I decided to make a fun little everyday conclusion, but it's really pretty tertiary to the story. Please read and review, and yes, I will be doing a sequel. (Thanks for the reviews Solodancer and Bringer of Good Cheer -and beer-)

He'd remembered flying to Sarah, all the while, listening with his powers, hearing Sarah's conversation. Hearing Robin talk to Cyborg. In the short while he'd spent trying to reach Sarah, he'd learned a substantial amount about his new enemies. _Enemies... _He'd never had a real enemy before. He'd submitted to people, to avoid wasting time and effort fighting. The closes thing he'd had to enemies, before the Titans, were those who took advantage of his abilities, or lack there of, and he was able to avoid them easily enough. He winced as he looked down at his arms, feeling a strange twinge. They were bound behind him, leaving just the weapons that had been bonded to them exposed, the wiring cut to prevent him from freeing himself. He tried to sit up, which was only made harder by the clothing he'd been supplied by the asylum, the white shirt and pants having been made to restrict such movements. It was almost comforting to be back in an institute, to know that he wouldn't have to deal with anyone for a while. The only problem was, there was someone he did want to deal with, but she was gone, taken away for the useless ambitions of someone else. He'd have to get used to it, she'd have wanted him to. She was in a better place anyway, she didn't need to be burdened by his troubles. He said a short prayer, being thankful for the time he had with her, hoping for the strength to move on.

What had happened to him anyway? He suddenly realized that he hadn't just appeared in the asylum, that there'd been events that lead up to it. He closed his eyes, and began to remember...

_No, that's not what happened, why am I remembering that?_

_He watched it replay in his head over and over again. He was in school, his fellow students were walking to class. But those four, in the corner, he remembered them. They always said America needed to be reminded of the need for security. They held instrument cases, but as far as Grey new, they were never in band. The bell rang, and he tried to run to class, having been later than usual, but the school's 'student disturbance' alarms went off. He remembered how that had been the key to their plan's success. He ran on to his class, but of course, because of the alarms, it was locked. There were those guys again, with what looked like small explosive charges. He hid in the doorway, and watched as they placed it on the door and blew the door in. With guns blazing, they marched into the room, the screams of his peers ensuing. He fell to the floor, and vomited, realizing what they'd just done, and what it meant he'd have to do. He was probably one of the few people that could do anything, the police had probably been locked out, the 'student disturbance response system' being designed to lock the needed doors. But they knew their way through the system, and had locked all the doors. He remembered, how they'd split up, and how he, having only a knife one of them had dropped, had to stop them... one by one._

He awoke with a start. His vomit on the cushioned floor in front of him. He had seen it, he'd felt it. That scene had repeated itself that day that he'd lost Sarah. He must've had a nervous breakdown. He felt his cell shake.

'That's strange,' he thought, 'I thought asylums were supposed to hinder insanity, not promote it.' His cell began to fall apart around him.

"We've got an attack on the Jump city asylum," Beast Boy yelled as he monitored the situation from the main computer. "It's on the same cell Grey is in." The team, having been thoroughly shaken by their experience with the boy, was hesitant. Finally Robin spoke.

"We need to go, someone from that organization might be trying to kill him, or worse, set him free," he said.

The team left, just early enough to miss a live video feed showing the reappearance of an old friend.

"Come here boy," the man said to Grey.

"Why?" Grey asked, being fairly confused.

"I can help you with your powers. You can gain control, or you can lose it. Whatever you want. I've seen you fight, we could be powerful allies."

"I don't want power. It's not worth the headache," not feeling social enough to argue his case with the man.

"You could have revenge. Those Titans can't be super heroes without a super villain can they?"

"Look, I've had a rough week, I need to think things over. Just leave me alone."

"I can fix that," said the man, his smirk apparent in his voice.

"SLADE!!!" yelled Robin. "Why can't you stay dead."

The other Titans looked in dismay at Robin. They new Slade wasn't dead, the chemical in Robin's brain had shown them that (ref. Haunted). Robin looked at the others, hoping to find his similar sense of surprise. There wasn't any.

"Why didn't-" he stopped short. "I understand, I'm sorry. I just-"

"We know Robin, we didn't mean to betray you. We simply didn't want you to hurt yourself again." Starfire and Robin shared a glance. It was stronger than what Grey had seen before.

"Are we through with the dramatics..." Slade asked, condescendingly.

"Yeah, we just-" Beast Boy began.

"YOU!!!" Grey had somehow regained his powers, and they all reeled at the earth shattering voice in their heads. His devices had been rewired with stray connectors left over from the walls of his cell. "You must be him." He threw himself at Slade, and a fight ensued.

"Who are you talking about? I'm no one." Slade replied, striking the boys weakened shield with his staff, the shield just barely absorbing the blow.

"Oh, but you are. You have the same voice as Ricks, and not only that, you have the same voice that played over his ears, and you were excited when you first saw me, like some project you had was completed." Grey tried to blast Slade, but slade simply dodged, being much more agile than the slightly hungover Grey.

The Titans looked in disbelief. _Slade had plans that stretch back that far?_

"No, that wasn't me, but it was a colleague of mine. You see, you've not always been one person's project. I just picked up the tab for my predecessors."

Grey looked at the man, pausing his attacks to analyze him, with an anger that was slowly subsiding. "I see, it still doesn't make a difference. I have one purpose now, and that's to continue on." He lowered himself to the ground. Walking off away from the hospital, and from his memories.

"It's not that simple, boy," Slade said as he launched himself at Grey's back, his now extended foot, connecting just below Grey's neck.Grey fell, rolling clumsily. The Titans, just sat and watched, not knowing who to help. The boy tried to blast Slade yet again, this time nothing happened. He tried his other arm, and only a weak and inaccurate blast was emitted. Slade attacked again and again, Grey not having the will or skill to dodge any of the attacks. He simply absorbed most of the attacks (fairly poorly) and swung again and again. Finally Slade's staff connected with Grey's fist, a sickening crack resounding in the relative quiet. Grey sank to his knees, holding his hand, contorting under the pain of his bruises.

"You've killed before, what's wrong with a few more?" Slade chided.

Grey looked up at the man, anger once again filling his eyes. Anger strong enough that yet again, Raven felt it more than she normally would have. Grey swung at the man with his lame hand... and connected. Slade grunted and fell back. Looking at the boy, happy for the new challenge. The boy attacked again and again, Slade dodging and blocking. Finally, Grey missed, and Slade connected his staff to Grey's back. Grey fell forward, clumsily, but pulled himself up with astounding resolve and quickness. Yet again, he was throwing everything at Slade. Slade swung at the boys stomach. Grey simply stood firm and let it strike, absorbing the blow with a slight waver. He grabbed the rod out of Slade's hands, and snapped it on his knee.

"I will not kill again, so leave." Slade looked at the boy, obviously angered at the stubborn rejection. "It's really not a good idea to kill something you've invested so much in anyway." Grey gave a pained laugh as Slade ran off.

Grey looked at the Titans, who had simply been staring at him. They looked at the boy, battered, bruised, limping, and bloodied, in disbelief.

"Look," Grey began, "I know I held Sarah's death against you before, but I see now that it doesn't matter. I'm sorry for any harm I've caused you." He began to walk off towards his battered cell.

"Wait," Robin started, "you obviously don't belong in there. We've always got extra room at our place anyway. And besides, what you did today, fighting off Slade like that, deserves better than an institution. Besides, with your powers, you could help us help others. I'm sure Sarah would have wanted you to." Robin was taking a serious gamble, mentioning Sarah, and the other Titans new it. They looked at Grey, afraid of what other anger Robin may have evoked.

"You're right. Thank you."

Beast Boy, picking up on Grey's sudden change in attitude, chimed in, "But you're going to need to change your name. Grey isn't a good super hero name."

"Res. Is that good enough?" Grey said, trying to hurry on the conversation so he could get some sort of medical attention.

"What does this 'Res' mean?" Starfire asked.

"Sound _resolution. _It refers to the quality of a sound. Res is short for it." He was struggling to get his words out, and Raven could tell.

"Look, we need to get him back to the tower." She said, looking at the others seriously.

"Yeah, I could seriously get some sleep." Grey added. All except Starfire laughed, and they walked back to the tower, as Robin tried to explain the joke to her.


	6. Life After

Okay, final chapter. Yet again, for those money hungry lawyers out there, I don't own the Teen Titans, never plan to, and in fact, don't really plan on owning any of their merchandise. Readers, thank you for your support. I know the fic was finished fast, that's because I don't really want to deal with it alot longer. This just means, I need a short break. (Oh yeah, by the way, the Iceberg I refer to is my cruelty). So many cliffhangers, so little time.

The morning was fresh and fairly sunny, which put Grey in a fairly good mood. 'Well, I'm a superhero, living in a giant T, with pretty much unlimited resources for amusement. What should I do first?' he thought, suddenly realizing what he'd so recently become. 'Maybe I'll go see what's up top, and test my powers along the way.' Grey got dressed in a grey sweater and sweatpants, and opened his window. Concentrating on his objective, he placed a foot out the window, then let himself fall forward. 'Wow,' he thought doing a few unconscious loops, 'I have more control than I realized.'

Ascending to the top of the structure with relative ease, and doing a few tricks before landing, Grey reveled in the freshness of the air. 'I hope Sarah is having this much fun in heaven,' he wondered, knowing it would obviously be much better than this.

Grey suddenly had an idea.Remembering how he'd been in band and had had a knack for it, he wondered how easy it would be to replicate specific pitches. He concentrated on his memory of the first note he played, and there it was. It wasn't all that much at first, but after a little sharpening and re-tuning, the B-flat hummed out with amazing clarity. It was amazing to hear a note that had no characteristics of having been played from an instrument, just pure tonal existence.

Without even realizing what he was doing, he began playing, if you could call it that, an old hymn he'd remembered from school. It was a sad but quick song that began with one part, became two, then 3, and finally split into a 5 part chord. He had never known a more beautiful piece of music. He played it again, this time adding more character to each voice, making it sound more human. Finally, he began to form the words, and by the final chord, it was exactly as he'd remembered it. Feeling a great sense of accomplishment, Grey looked around to find other things to do.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, noticing Raven levitating ahead of him, "I hope I didn't interrupt anything." He turned to leave.

"No, it's okay. I actually really liked that song." Raven seemed more relaxed than he'd seen her before.

"Oh..." Grey started awkwardly, "thanks." Raven returned the feeling of awkwardness with her judgmental stare. "I'm sorry for what I put you guys through. I just... I just didn't think through what I was doing. I lost control. I'll understand if you don't forgive me."

"It's not that..." Raven said even more confused by the boy, "it's just that I don't understand how you can already be so happy after what just happened. You seem as if you're someone who just woke up from a nightmare to find out it's Christmas."

"Well..." Grey began, "I just have to move on. There's no sense in dwelling on the past, in letting it change who you are, because you change anyway. If you consciously let it change you, then you really changed yourself, and changing yourself usually doesn't work very well."

"Why do you think that?" Raven was somewhat intrigued by his logic.

"I have experience in the matter, as most of you probably do, seeing it's a common characteristic of super heros to have a jaded past."

"You know," Raven said with what was almost a change in tone, "you're the first person to logically deduce something before I did."

"I guess that's because logic has been the only possession I've been able to keep through the years." He suddenly realized why Raven was up here. "You don't mind if I meditate with you do you?" he asked in a manner that suggested he expected to receive a "no."

"Oh, no... not at all."She said as she turned back around and closed her eyes to meditate again.

"Thanks..." he began to sit and contemplate, and soon another song began to protrude from the background. "I'm sorry," Grey said, realizing it had been coming from him.

"Keep playing if you want, it's not all that bad."

Grey resumed, and they began to meditate.

Grey stumbled into the kitchen, having tripped on something he was still trying to locate.

"How can you be that clumsy?" asked Beast Boy. (Res had been tripping all throughout the previous day during the few times he'd actually gotten out of bed.

"Hey, you can show a bit of symp..." Robin began but was cut off by Grey's sudden fit of laughter.

"You really are the funny one aren't you," Grey managed between gasps as he began to recover.

"I wasn't trying to be funny," Beast Boy said with a tone of apprehensiveness.

"You don't have to." Grey decided it was time to switch topics. "What's for breakfast?"

Starfire, Cyborg, and Robin were all sitting around the table, eating, very disgustedly, what appeared to be pancakes.

"Beast Boy's tofu pancakes!" Beast Boy said excitedly. "Wanna try some?"

"Hmmmm, sure, why not?" Grey said, flipping himself a few off of the serving plate. He took a few bites, with a look of indifference, then turned to Beast Boy and asked, "Do they add sugar to the mixture in order to make it taste more like real batter?"

"Yeah, why does it matter?" Beast Boy asked defensively.

"I was only wondering. I think the taste would be a little bit better if you added some more sugar. Other than that it's really good."

Everyone's, with the exception of Grey's, jaw dropped.

"What? As long as you don't think of it as actually eating pancakes, they taste good."

He slowly began eating his pancakes. By the time he was done, most people had moved on to other tasks. He got up and began to look for something to drink.

"You guys wouldn't happen to have Tang (no, I don't own this product either)."

"Nope," came the stereo reply of Beast Boy and Cyborg.

"Tea?" Grey probed.

"Yeah..." Beast Boy replied hesitantly, hoping they didn't have another Raven on their hands. "It's in the second cupboard from the far, far left."

"Thanks." Came Grey's muffled reply, as he began scrounging through the cupboard. He pulled out three containers, all unmarked glass jars, and opened their tops. Sniffing each one curiously, and choosing one, putting the others back up, and getting a glass out and filling it with hot water. He brewed the tea, and sat down to enjoy it.

"Who's been going through my tea?" began Raven in a irritated tone.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know if I was going to have seconds."

"Well, what do you think. I made it myself." Raven was curious as to what opinions someone else would have about her teas, since so far, only she had actually had them.

"I didn't brew it long enough, but other than that, it's really good."

"You didn't brew it long enough? I can barely see to the bottom of your mug. How can that not be brewed enough."

"Umm, are you okay Raven," Beast Boy asked, never having heard disbelief of such an amount from Raven.

"Uhh, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm just feeling a little under the weather." She got her tea, and left for her room..

Knock Knock came the disturbance at Raven's door. 'Odd,' she though 'no one has knocked on my door since Beast Boy and Cyborg were trapped in here.'

"Come in," she said, still irritated.

"Thanks," came Grey's calm reply. "I was just wondering, how you were really feeling."

OMGOMGOMGOMG. Yeah, cliffhanger at the end of a story. You may think this is cruel, but don't worry... THIS IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG.

Read the sequel if you're intrigued.


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